Friday, January 31, 2014

The most deeelicious persimmons at the farmer's market, which are by far my favorite winter fruit.

Painting has never really been something that I was particularly good at but I decided sometimes you just have to have fun and not worry about making things so complicated and perfect. Last weekend I actually took my time (shocker) and painted this little ampersand on a canvas. I think I might actually hang it up!

Max and I have started a new tradition where every couple weeks we go on a just Max and Mommy date. He gets to pick what we do. This last date he said he wanted to go to a pottery painting place so he could paint something for daddy and then feed the ducks :)

A girls night out with my sweet friend. Cheers to that!

Every morning Ronin is so excited to see Max and runs up to him to say good morning. Max was jumping out of his chair to give him a hug at this particular time and I caught it on my iPhone. These special little moments are the best.

Have a great weekend and happy Superbowl watching...if that is your thing of course.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

This is what a glucagon shot looks like. It is SO important that to have one in case of an emergency if you are type 1 diabetic. This will save your life.

My first seizure was when I was seven years old. It was only a few months after I was diagnosed with diabetes. I had a double header soccer game that day. I remember being so excited because I had scored around 10 goals and my Dad would give me a dollar for every goal I scored. I was rich haha!

I recently asked my mom to tell me the story of exactly what happened the morning of my first seizure. This was hard for her to tell me but I am sharing her story so that other parents with type 1 diabetics can be aware.

From my mom's memory:

"You were always active so when you were diagnosed with diabetes we did not want that to change for you, although your dad and I were still unsure exactly how exercise really affected your blood sugars at that point. You had played two long soccer games that day. You ate a ton of oranges and had a normal lunch. We kept your insulin the same as every other day (thats where we went wrong). I did the carb corrections for everything you ate just like we were supposed to. Your blood sugars that day were good. They were not too low and never got too high. That evening you were exhausted. We checked your blood sugar before you went to bed and it was perfect. Around 4am I had a weird feeling. I went upstairs and you were fast asleep. I looked a little closer and you were sweating. I checked your blood sugar. It was 35! I tried to stay calm and had you walk downstairs with me to get juice. You were in a daze. We got downstairs and I told you to sit down on the floor. I ran to the kitchen as fast as I could while screaming to your Dad to come help me. Seconds later you were on the floor having a seizure. We were panicking and didn't know what to do! We called 911 and they said they would be there as fast as they could but in the mean time they told us it was vital to give you the emergency glucagon shot. We mixed the medicine up in the little bottle and injected it into your thigh. You seemed to slowly start to come out of it but you still were not our Lindsay. After what seemed like forever an ambulance showed up and off we went to the hospital."

I remember feeling so sick the next day. I also remember feeling like I had been run over by a truck. My whole body was sore and I just felt weak. My parents outlook on diabetes had changed after that...for good reason. Paranoia for them was kicked into overdrive. From that point on I was only allowed to spend the night at friend's houses whose parents were doctors or nurses, which basically eliminated everyone except a select few. I can only imagine how scared they must have been and I would have been the exact same way.

My second (and it will be my last) seizure was when I was 14. It was pretty traumatic. I was a freshman in high school and on summer break. That night I had gone out with a group of friends to Denny's. I ended up doing much more of a correction than I should have that night. At this time my parents were divorced and I was at my Dad's for the weekend. I remember waking up in a complete sweat and shaking like a leaf. I always kept my blood tester next to me on my night stand so I tested. I was 39. I couldn't get the damn straw out of the plastic wrap to drink my juice. I was panicking. I tried to get downstairs as fast as I could. We had these really steep stairs and I remember getting half way down and my brain was starting to take over. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. I knew I was going to have a seizure and I was still on the stairs. I tried screaming out to my Dad but all I could get out was a muffle. I tried to walk down one more stair while holding onto the rail and my body went stiff. In my mind I was trying to scream for help but nothing was coming out. It went black from there. My Dad did hear my muffle scream...I am pretty sure he woke up to a whisper since my first seizure and thankfully gave me the glucagon shot as fast as he could. He told me my head was in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs and he had no idea where it was coming from. Turns out I had bitten my tongue really bad. I woke up not to long after with a team of paramedics around me hooking me up and getting all my vitals. I was still out of it but I heard one of the paramedics say, "She might have broken her nose and definitely cracked a few teeth." To this day I still can see all of the faces that were surrounding me as I was waking up. After a day stay in the hospital I came home. Thankfully I had not broken my nose but I did indeed crack a few teeth which was fixable.

After that seizure I vowed to never have another one again. And since then I have gotten even lower at times (I was 29 once while I was pregnant!) and was able to get my act together and treat it as fast as it could. Now that I am a mom I never go anywhere unless I am prepared for the worst. I bring my glucagon and never ever leave without tons of juice in my car.

How I am prepared and deal with extreme lows:

If I test and I am really low I try to stay calm. The mind is a very powerful thing and I have noticed that if I start to panic my blood sugar will drop even faster and I will start to lose control. I am in control and that is what I tell myself when I go really low.

I treat lows with juice or honey and sometimes both. I do tend to overcorrect for a low and don't always follow the 15 gram rule (sorry doc) but I would rather be over cautious than not.

I always keep a juice box with the straw out next to my bed. If I feel too low to test I just drink it and worry about testing later.

If I am having a day where I exercise more than normal I will lower my insulin and check more frequently. Sometimes I even set an alarm on my pump to wake me up in the middle of the night to test.

My husband is the most together person I have ever met and he knows exactly where my glucagon is and how to use it if I ever needed it again. He has also dealt with me being really low before and has handled it like a champ (more on that later).

I have had many talks with Max (my three year old) about me being low. He understands fully. He knows where the juice and honey is if I need it and can't get to it. He also knows not to drink the kids juice boxes in my car. He is a special little person for sure. It makes me cry writing this but you must involve your family. It is so important.

Telling these stories was not easy but I want to share because it can happen. And the best way to prevent it is to always be over prepared in any situation.

If you are type 1 diabetic and have had an extreme low or seizure I would be so grateful if you shared your story as well. How do you treat lows and what solutions have you come up with that work the best?

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Did you know that an entire eggplant has only 16 grams of carboydrate and 130 calories?! I had no idea until I googled it last week. Sometimes I google random stuff like that. Turns out eggplant can also help with digestion, skin tone (LOVE this one), weight loss (it makes you feel full and satisfied), mental health and it's a heart protector.

So basically you can eat an entire batch of eggplant fries and you are not even making a dent in the carbohydrate or calorie department and you are getting in some great health benefits.

I made these eggplant fries over the weekend and they were so so yummy! They are beyond addicting but basically guilt free, which are the best kind of fries in my opinion.

What you will need:

one large eggplant

2 eggs

1/4 cup of almond milk

1 cup of almond meal

1/4 tsp of pepper

1/2 tsp of garlic salt

olive oil or coconut oil cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash your eggplant and cut off each end.

Cut your eggplant into length size slices and then cut each slice into fry size strips.

Mix the eggs and almond milk together in a small bowl and set aside.

Mix the almond meal, pepper and garlic salt together on a large plate.

Dip each eggplant fry first into the egg mixture and then roll it around in the almond meal mixture making sure to coat it completely.

Place all of your fries onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spray them with olive or coconut oil spray.

Bake for 30 minutes or until they are nice and crispy.

Enjoy!

You must try these! I will be making a double batch again this weekend for Super Bowl!

Friday, January 24, 2014

We recently took Max to Supercross for the very first time and he was in heaven! We have awesome neighbors who got us the best seats. It is basically a little boys's dream with all the bikes, lights, fireworks, music and revving of engines. He had a permanent smile on his face the whole time and I loved this sweet moment I captured of my husband and Max.

How Ronin ends up every night, which is not in his crib ha. Ronin is STILL not sleeping through the night but I have decided to just embrace it (or maybe just deal with it) because I know I will blink and he will be in a big boy bed.

A very rare squeaky clean kitchen moment. It almost never looks like this so I felt compelled to take a picture.

Life lately is all about Nerf guns and bullets everywhere and my front door has become Max's main shooting target.

A recent weekend getaway date with my husband, thanks to Grandpa and Aubi! We drank wine, had massages, got to talk without interruptions and did not have to inhale our dinner. It was perfect.

And now for the not so good...such a downer thing to say on a Friday but that's life sometimes.

Pictures mean everything to me and this week I got some really crappy news. A couple weeks ago my old computer started acting all weird (first reg flag) and then a couple days after that it wouldn't even turn on. NO!! My heart sank when the thought that I might never get ALL the pictures back of the boy's lives up to this point. I am a complete idiot and had not printed out all the pictures yet from the boy's first birthday parties, Christenings, Max's first Christmas and all the other memories that you never want to forget and show your children one day. My plan was to get all settled into our new house and then print out a million pictures all at once and make giant scrapbooks. My husband works with some computer geniuses and after multiple recover attempts they said it was toast. I did not want to give up so I gave it to the Geek Squad guys at Best Buy (for a pretty penny I might add) who tried to rebuild my hard drive and get back some of the pictures. Yesterday I got the news that all my pictures were gone forever. I am so so sad about this. I decided I can't dwell and be depressed about it since it will not get any of my pictures back, but I have decided it's never too late to start capturing more moments and then immediately print them out. So just a reminder, back up your pictures and everything else important on your computer regularly!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Two recipes actually got posted in one week?! Whaaaat? That might be a record for me. But these were just too good to not share as soon as I possibly could.

Not sure what my deal is this week but I have been on this (way more than normal) crazy baking and cooking streak. Since I am a complete scatter brain the hard part of doing anything when you have a million things burnin through your skull, is deciding which idea to actually execute. ADD problems for sure.

These strawberry cheesecake bites might just be my favorite dessert made to date! They are freaking goooooooood and it's hard to eat just one, which kind of defeats the whole bite size dessert thing but whatever. Do what feels right when it comes to dessert, ya know? :)

These might seem complicated because of all the steps but I promise they are so easy to make. All you are doing is putting everything in a food processor and letting that bad boy do all the work...and then waiting for them to set. If you can measure, you can make these.

Place all of the ingredients for the crust in a food processor. Process until you have a sticky dough consistency.

Take a small amount of crust and roll it into a ball. Then place it on the bottom of your muffin tin and press down firmly so it holds together.

Clean your food processor (the only annoying part of this process) and place all the ingredients for the filling inside. Process until you have a smooth cheesecake filling consistency

Layer the filling on top of the crust, leaving just a little bit of room for the topping.

Place all of the strawberry topping ingredients into the food process and blend until you have a sauce like consistency. (Are you sick of me saying ---- like consistency? I am haha)

Add the topping on top of each mini cheesecake.

Place in the freezer for about an hour or until they are set.

Enjoy!

*I used a silicone muffin tin from OvenArt Bakewareand it's the BEST! It makes the whole process of getting your frozen desserts out in the end so much easier. If you can get one I highly recommend it.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

I can still remember being seven (the year I was diagnosed with diabetes) and hearing my Dad yell to me in the middle of my soccer game, "ARE YOU LOW?!" I would shoot him a quick annoyed "I'm okay" look and roll my eyes because I thought he was being over paranoid. There were a few times though where I was actually low in the middle of a game and my Dad would run out on the soccer field with my blood tester and an already opened juice box, which he told me to drink right away. I remember feeling embarrassed because everyone would look at me but looking back I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for my parents to have to solely rely on me recognizing my low or high symptoms. I also think my parents are amazing for caring as much as they did.

Being active has always been a huge priority in my life. It not only makes me feel great both physically and mentally but it makes a huge difference when it comes to having tighter control with my diabetes. But with all that said, having type 1 diabetes can make it quite frustrating at times. Different activities do different things to my blood sugar and trying to figure out how my body is going to react to certain things can be quite challenging. Sometimes it seems like no matter what I do, my blood sugars have a mind of their own. To this day I do not have the whole exercising while maintaining perfect control thing down to a science, but I have figured out what works best for me most of the time.

A few things I do when working out:

I prefer to have my starting blood sugar around 160 before starting a workout. This might seem a little high to some but if I start any lower I drop really fast. If I am on the lower end of the blood sugar spectrum before working out I will have a small snack, such as half of a Larabar to help raise it a little.

I almost always take off my pump and put it on suspend if I am doing an intense workout. If I am doing a low intensity workout like Yoga or weight lifting I will put my pump on a 50% temporary basil rate.

Running, swimming, dance and spin all make me drop about 30 minutes in, so at the 30 minute mark I stop for a minute and check my blood sugar. If I have dropped significantly I will eat a couple Cliff Shot Bloks.

I have noticed over the years that outside activities on a hot day make my blood sugar drop at a faster than normal rate compared to days where it is cooler outside. Does anyone else notice or experience this? So for days where it is hotter than normal I make sure to pay extra attention to my pre/during and post workout blood sugars.

I bring my blood tester with my wherever I go. If I am running outside I will carry it in my hand. I need a better system for this now that I think of it.

If I am running long distances (outside) I always bring a juice box with me as well as another back up source of sugar.

I have gotten over the feeling that people are going to think I'm weird if I stop in the middle of spin to check my blood sugar if I feel low. I know how important it is to take care of a low right away and that is always a priority for me no matter what the situation.

If my blood sugar goes high during a workout, I usually will do a small correction and then continue my workout since exercise will naturally bring it down faster.

I always check my blood sugar post workout and drink a protein shake to help keep me stable the few hours following. My favorite protein powder is Joy Rob Whey Protein. I am the queen of buying crappy protein powders and I am so happy to have finally discovered this one. I will never switch and it is beyond delicious.

If you have any questions regarding this specific topic you can leave them below and I will do my best to answer in the comment section.

*If you are thinking of changing anything regarding your diabetes management, it is always best to talk to your doctor first.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Have you been to Target recently? They make you really aware that Valentine's Day is approaching from the minute you walk in. There is Valentine's Day thing-a-ma-boppers everywhere! Despite all of the obnoxious marketing of it, I love it. I love the simple part of it, which to me is fun baking and Valentine's Day card writing. Max asked me last week if we could bake cookies and I am pretty sure I will never say no to that request. I wanted to experiment with something festive that we could recreate again the week of the holiday.

Coming up with healthy red treats is almost impossible without food coloring but since I am not a fan of using artificial anything when we bake I don't like to use it. I had recently heard that beet juice was a great natural color additive so I decided to give it a try in our latest baking experiment. The results were unbelievable! We ended up with yummy, soft reddish pink cookies that we all loved...and the plus side was they tasted nothing like beets, which is even better!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Sometimes I get this crazy urge to put things in my food processor and hope they turn out how I imagined. Almost always they don't turn out and I am left with a giant blob of un-edible mush. But sometimes weird ideas turn out even more delicious than I imagined and then I feel a little better about all the other sucky ones.

Now I am not a particular fan of cashews to begin with. Whenever I eat one I always think mehhh and tell myself I should just stick with almonds. I have been doing a little dabbling here and there with raw and vegan recipes and apparently cashews are like cauliflowers and can be transformed into a whole host of amazing things. So I decided to give my least favorite nut one more shot as the base for a pudding...and I am forever converted in a cashew lover now.

What you will need:

2 cups of raw cashews

1/2 cup of almond milk

1 banana

1 tbs of honey

1/2 tsp of vanilla

Directions:

Add all of the above ingredients into a food processor (a blender will not work).

Process until you have a smooth and creamy consistency.

Place the pudding in the refrigerator and chill for about 30 minutes or so.

Enjoy!

*Makes 3 servings

Both of my boys (and possibly me) licked their pudding bowls clean and Ronin said, "Moe Moe Moooooooe!" That would be more more more for those of who are unfamiliar with baby gibberish. And the moment my husband walked in through the front door from work, I (nicely) shoved a spoonful of it in his face, I can't help that I am impatient :) 5 minutes later the pudding was history. That's a good sign around here. You need to make this. No pressure...well maybe a little.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

I was 36 weeks pregnant with Max here and my super talented cousin took this picture.

I wanted a baby so bad. It was all I could think about. But I knew because I was type 1 diabetic it would have to be planned and discussed with my doctor first.

About 8 months before trying to get pregnant I met with my endocrinologist. I told him we were hoping to get pregnant soon. After reviewing my A1C (a blood test that provides an overall picture of how you're managing your diabetes) he said he didn't recommend it until I got my A1C much lower. At that time my A1C was 8.7. Major bummer! I was exercising regularly (I was a running machine), eating somewhat healthy, my weight was great but I can admit that tight blood sugar control was not a huge priority. I was doing about 5 insulin shots a day back then and was somewhat flippant with when I wanted to do them. For example, I would eat a giant bagel for breakfast, spike to 350 and think, "Oh well it will come down after I go running." I remember feeling normal at around 200, which is not good at all and low at 120.

He told me that if I was to get pregnant now, my chances of having a miscarriage were very high (they are already high even if you have tight control). He also told me my baby would have a higher chance of having permanent complications that could effect the rest of their life as well as a higher chance of a still born. Comforting right? He even gave me specific examples of other girls that did not listen to him and got pregnant anyway and their babies either did not make it or were born with oversized organs (due to the mother having uncontrollable high blood sugars) which were life threatening. I did not want any of those scenarios to happen and I was ready to make some serious changes in my life.

Up until that day I had been anti insulin pump. The idea of wearing a pager sized device at all times tucked into my back jean pocket, poking out of my bra while wearing a dress or having a visible tube connected to my thigh while I was at the beach in my bikini did not sound awesome but I knew I had to have one regardless if I thought it looked cool or not.

I left the appointment that day with a prescription for an insulin pump and a continuos glucose monitoring system. A few days later a lady came to my house and got me all trained. I was officially connected to a pump and a separate little gadget that I wore on my stomach called a continuous glucose monitoring system. That night I went to bed with my first ever pump tucked into my sports bra.

It took about a week to get used to it but I noticed my blood sugars were improving almost instantly. I became even more military with my diet. I cut out starchy carbs almost completely since no matter what I always spike after eating them and I continued to exercise. I thought about every little thing I did and how it might effect my blood sugars. It felt good caring so much about my diabetes because I knew I was ultimately doing it for our future baby. About 4 months later my A1c was 6.9. My doctor said he would like it even tighter (geeeeeze doc) but gave me the green light to start trying! Now the fun part...kidding I won't go there ;)

4 long months later (I am not a patient person) we found out I was pregnant! I remember waking up that morning and thinking, "OH NO I HAVE THE FLU!"...but three positive pregnancy tests later we realized it was not the flu and we were going to have a baby! We cried, laughed and no idea what this diabetic pregnancy journey was going to look like but ready or not we were on the train.

If you are type 1 diabetic and thinking about getting pregnant here are a few things to keep in mind:

Plan it. While surprises might be exciting for your non-diabetic best friend, it is not the best idea when you are type 1.

Meet with your doctor and tell him you want to start trying. Get your A1C up to date and make sure you have the green light from him or her.

If you are able to get on the insulin pump, do it! You will not regret it and it will make managing your diabetes so much easier while pregnant.

Get serious about your diet. I personally cut out high carb foods and anything else that would spike my blood sugars. I had no idea what the Paleo diet was back then, but if I knew about it I would have been doing that without a doubt.

In future posts I will also be including more about how I dealt with my blood sugars during pregnancy (the weird spikes and the scary lows), how I dealt with morning (ALL freaking day) sickness, insulin changes, what I ate and more.

On a side note: This series will not be in any specific order because my brain does not work that way. Instead, I will be sharing different topics based on what comes to mind that particular week. But if there is anything in particular that you are really curious about please let me know in the comment section.

* I am not a doctor, I am simply sharing my personal story and what has and hasn't worked for me with type 1 diabetes. If you are thinking of changing anything regarding your diabetes management it is always best to talk to your doctor first.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Random acne breakout's can put a real damper on your otherwise good face day. The problem with most over the counter spot acne treatments is that they tend to be very drying, which in turn can irritate your skin.

I have previously mentioned the amazing benefits of turmeric powder for anti-aging as well as adding it to your diet as a super food but today I am going to share a simple way to incorporate it into your skin care regime if you are having breakouts.

Turmeric powder is able to fight acne head on because of its potent anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties. It is soothing and non irritating, which makes it the perfect ingredient to help stop those pesky breakouts before they become a real pain in the ass.

All you will need to make an all natural turmeric acne spot treatment is turmeric powder and water!

What to do:

Mix a tiny bit of turmeric powder with a few drops of water until you have a paste.

Apply to the broken out area with clean hands.

Leave on for 15-20 minutes.

Gently rinse off (do not use a washcloth as this could irritate the breakout).

Repeat this process daily until the redness and acne breakout is gone.

Hope you enjoyed this super simple little tip and if you do try this please come back and let me know about your experience.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

I am starting a new series on my blog called, "The Highs and Lows of Type 1 Diabetes." For those of you who do not know, I have had type 1 diabetes for 21 years. You can read all about my diagnosis story here. When I was diagnosed at the age of seven years old people said to my Mom and Dad, "Aw are you sad that your daughter may not be able to have children?" Yes, people really said that to them and they told me later in life. At 28 years old I am beyond thankful to say I am a wife to an incredibly supportive husband who "gets it" and I am a mother of two perfectly healthy little boys ages 3 1/2 and 18 months.

With this new series I will be sharing a more in depth look at how diabetes impacts my life. I will share my struggles, along with the good and how exactly I deal with it and what works for me.

My first post will be next week.

If there is any topic (nothing diabetes related will be off limits) you would like me to cover please leave a comment below so I can make sure to incorporate it into a post.

*If you are thinking of changing anything regarding your diabetes management it is always best to talk to your Endocrinologist first.